


Here’s to us

by voices_in_my_head



Category: Avatar: The Last Airbender
Genre: As you do, Day 1, Jetko Renaissance Week, Prompt: confessions, Zuko is known as Li throughout most of this fic
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-18
Updated: 2020-10-18
Packaged: 2021-03-09 05:40:31
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 10,489
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27079732
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/voices_in_my_head/pseuds/voices_in_my_head
Summary: "“We didn’t just leave because the Fire Nation left us homeless. The Fire Nation did that years ago. And then you made us a new home. And then you lost it,” Jet can’t help but to inhale a breath through his mouth, making a hissing sound. Smellerbee’s face falls at that. She looks sad. “And me and Longshot and Pipsqueak and Sneers. All of us, who went along with your plan to destroy that village. That’s why we don’t have a home anymore. And why there aren’t Freedom Fighters anymore.”"AU from ATLA S2 E14 when Jet is convinced by Smellerbee and Longshot to not go inside the tea shop.
Relationships: Jet/Zuko (Avatar)
Comments: 22
Kudos: 182
Collections: Jetko Renaissance Week





	Here’s to us

**Author's Note:**

> It's Jetko Renaissance Week! I'm so excited!! I really enjoyed writing this so I hope you all like it too :)
> 
> Like the summary says, this goes AU from that scene in S2 E14 when Jet goes inside the tea shop to tell people Zuko and Iroh are firebenders.
> 
> Have a wonderful week, everyone :)

_All of your flaws and all of my flaws,_ _  
When they have been exhumed  
We'll see that we need them to be who we are  
Without them we'd be doomed_

Bastille – Flaws

_“Maybe you’ve forgotten why we need to start over. Maybe you’ve forgotten about how the Fire Nation left us all homeless? How they wiped out all the people we loved? If you don’t want to help me, I’ll get the evidence on my own.”_

Jet feels like there’s fire running through his veins (and isn’t that ironic) as he walks away from Smellerbee and Longshot, takes out his swords and prepares to… He doesn’t even know. He’s going to walk inside the tea shop and he’s going to make the firebenders firebend.

“That’s not why we left!” Smellerbee’s voice rings out behind him and it takes Jet a few seconds to parse through the words, with his ears feeling like there’s something stuck inside.

He doesn’t want to stop, doesn’t want to turn around and continue the conversation, not if Smellerbee and Longshot are just going to call him obsessed.

But…

This is Smellerbee and Longshot. Who are still here, with Jet. Who followed him across the forest and got inside a boat for the very first time in their lives and who clearly could see through Jet’s confident smile when he said _“don’t worry, Ba Sing Se is going to be great, we’re going to start over”_ when in fact he hadn’t known anything about Ba Sing Se except that it was where all the refugees ended up at and that’s what they were, wasn’t it? People with no homes, forced to flee conflict.

_Only took you ten years to get here, give or take._

So Jet stops. He’s been watching Li and Mushi (are those even their names? Probably not) for over a day. Surely, a couple more minutes of them pretending like everything is fine won’t make a difference.

He forces himself to turn around, to go back to the alleyway, just because he doesn’t want to call attention to them and give the firebenders a head start.

“What?” Jet says once he’s close enough, doesn’t bother making it anything but a growl.

Smellerbee and Longshot don’t share a glance, though Longshot’s hand is once again on her shoulder, supportive.

“We didn’t just leave because the Fire Nation left us homeless. The Fire Nation did that years ago. And then you made us a new home. And then you lost it,” Jet can’t help but to inhale a breath through his mouth, making a hissing sound. Smellerbee’s face falls at that. She looks sad. “And me and Longshot and Pipsqueak and Sneers. All of us, who went along with your plan to destroy that village. That’s why we don’t have a home anymore. And why there aren’t Freedom Fighters anymore.”

Jet is clenching his jaw so hard it’s genuinely a surprise he hasn’t broken a tooth yet. His first instinct is to yell at Smellerbee, to tell her that they are still Freedom Fighters, that he can get more, and that the village… He deflates at the remainder.

The Avatar and his friends left soon after making sure there was no one down in the village when the dam was destroyed. They weren’t there to see that despite everyone being alive, the fact was they pretty much now just owned what they had on themselves. They weren’t there to see them savage whatever they could from the water.

Weren’t there to see Smellerbee and Longshot hitting at the ice enveloping Jet until he was free, quiet as he raged, everything from _“damn the Avatar”_ to _“we can still kill those soldiers.”_

It had only been as they’d been walking back that Smellerbee had said _“we weren’t just going to kill soldiers”_ and Jet had opened his mouth – _sometimes sacrifices have to be made_ – when she’d continued with _“I don’t want to kill anyone.”_

That had made him even angrier. It wasn’t like he wanted to kill anyone either! It wasn’t like he enjoyed them scavenging their food, the way especially in the first few years he’d had to turn everything into a game to make sure the younger kids didn’t realize just how dire their situation really was.

But Smellerbee had been crying, silent tears, and Longshot had looked… Lost, in a way Jet couldn’t remember ever seeing him.

And when they’d reached the tree, half of the kids had already left, no goodbye, even those that Jet had taken care of for years.

A few had waited for him, just to say to his face that they were leaving, giving excuses that he’d barely heard, telling them to _“just go!”_ while a small number did stay. But they might as well have left right away, since they just kept quiet as the days passed.

And Jet… Jet quieted down too. Because if even his friends – his _family_ – were leaving, then… Then maybe he really had been going too far.

So when it had been just him, Smellerbee and Longshot he’d said _“we should go to Ba Sing Se. We can start over”_ , half afraid that they were going to leave otherwise, half afraid that they were going to leave anyway.

But they’d looked grateful and, for the first time in days, Smellerbee had smiled, and said _“that sounds like a good idea, Jet.”_

And so they’d left. Made the path to Ba Sing Se, met other refugees on the boat, had a conversation about second chances… But the second Jet was sure there were Fire Nation people near him… It was like nothing else mattered.

Because what else can matter? The Fire Nation had killed his parents, made him an orphan at age eight, did the same to countless other kids, or left parents without kids (and surely, somewhere, there was a word for them), and he’s just… Supposed to let it go?

So what does it matter that Li and Mushi seemed genuinely nice? To really want to start over? They’re Fire Nation! They don’t deserve to start over!

And that’s exactly what he tells Smellerbee and Longshot. Can’t they see that?

“Maybe,” Smellerbee starts and her voice shakes but she’s also staring Jet straight in the eyes, posture straight, just like he’d taught her because the first Freedom Fighters lesson was: don’t be afraid. Or, if you are, never show it. “Maybe if people knew what we did, they wouldn’t think we deserved to start over either.”

Jet opens his mouth, glares at her, about to tell her how things aren’t _~~can’t~~_ be that simple, but Longshot’s hand on his shoulder stops him. Jet closes his mouth, stares at his friend, who says more with his mouth closed than most people do talking their whole lives.

Jet stares in his eyes, can see that Longshot doesn’t just agree with Smellerbee, but that he wants – _needs_ – Jet to agree too. Or, at the very least, to let this go.

“Besides, haven’t you noticed things aren’t the same here?” Smellerbee asks, clearly taking her chance. Jet turns to her, frowning.

“What do you mean?” His words come out bitten out. He doesn’t want to have this conversation; he wants to expose the firebenders. But Smellerbee and Longshot are his friends – the only family he has left – and for them… For them, Jet will pause and think just for a little while.

“We’ve been here for almost two days and no one has talked about the war.”

Jet keeps frowning. He hasn’t exactly been paying attention to the people around them while stalking Li and his uncle, but now that she mentions it…

“It’s like there is no war,” Smellerbee finishes and Jet blinks, caught by surprise.

“That… You can’t hide a war. Especially in a city filled with refugees.”

Smellerbee shrugs, but it’s obvious that she’s pretending to be more relaxed than she actually is, shoulders still tense.

“Something isn’t right here, Jet. And even if you are right and Li and Mushi really are firebenders… I don’t know if you can convince the people here. I don’t know if they want to be convinced. Or, if they think there is no war, maybe they don’t hate the Fire Nation.”

Jet blinks. Then he frowns, but no longer angrily. He puts a thumb between his eyebrows, thinking, chewing on the wheat in his mouth.

It isn’t… Dumb, what Smellerbee had said.

He blinks a second time. “What do you propose we do, then?” he forces the words out. He still wants to go inside and expose those firebenders but… Smellerbee’s making him think – what if this city really is so fucked up that they don’t see the danger they’re in? What if they see _Jet_ as the danger? – and not only that, but… _You made us a new home. And then you lost it._

Jet doesn’t like remembering it that way but it isn’t… inaccurate. But if he lets himself think too hard on it, on the things he’s done – _been willing to do_ –, then… He’d get lost. And Jet can’t get lost. He’s the leader of the Freedom Fighters. (The fact there are only three of them left is unimportant.) They need him.

“We found a place for us to stay. You should see it.”

“And then?” Jet asks, still with adrenaline running through his veins. He’d been so ready for a fight and now… He isn’t ready to just stop.

“We need to find jobs, earn some money,” Smellerbee says and Jet has to force himself not to stop her, not to say or do anything. It’s not… It’s not a bad plan. Hell, it _was_ the plan. Before he got sidetracked by stupid old men warming up their tea with just their hands.

“We don’t know this place, Jet,” Smellerbee continues, looking earnestly at him and Jet realizes… She’s afraid. She, and Longshot, and maybe… Maybe just not for him. Maybe of him as well. Of what Jet is going to do next.

It makes Jet’s throat close up, but he forces himself to keep breathing normally. He no longer feels the adrenaline running through his veins, though. No, suddenly he just feels tired, very much so.

“Okay,” he says. “You’re right. We should… Get to know this city. See what’s really going on.”

It’s a plan; not an all too bad one. If Ba Sing Se really is pretending the war doesn’t exist… Well, Jet isn’t going to let that stand. The world is dying out there and some rich fucks think they can hide behind their walls and pretend otherwise? No, he won’t let them.

Both Smellerbee and Longshot smile, Smellerbee’s a big one, Longshot’s his usual small one. But both have one thing in common: the relief in their faces is clear.

“And them?” Jet inclines his head towards the tea house, forcing his voice to come out neutrally.

Neither of them respond right away and Jet fights the urge to squeeze his swords, to tell them _“this is stupid! There’s two firebenders right here! I can’t let them get away!”_ Instead, he keeps chewing on his wheat, remembering as per usual the way his own father had done it.

_Sometimes you’re going to need a break, son. So just chew on some wheat._

Those aren’t the exact words Jet’s father had told him, but it’s the gist of it. He also hadn’t gone around with a piece of wheat on his mouth every single moment of the day but Jet, growing up around lost kids, pretending himself not to be as lost, had found himself in need of a moment quite often. So it had just become easier to keep the wheat in his mouth than to be keep getting it out of his pocket.

“If you really feel like they’re a threat,” Smellerbee starts and Jet doesn’t miss the _if_ , the way she and Longshot are clearly hoping he’ll just forget all about Li and Mushi, “then we can keep an eye on them by shifts.”

“Really?” Jet asks, tries to sound irritated, but fails and it comes out as hopeful.

“We trust you, Jet,” Smellerbee says and there’s no pause between the words and Longshot’s nod in agreement. “We just… We want to do better.”

Jet doesn’t say or do anything right away. He doesn’t… He isn’t sure what to say to that. Being better hasn’t been in his plans or thoughts for a very long time. Maybe since he was a kid, did something stupid and got a disappointed look from his parents, promised himself he’d do what he could to make sure it didn’t happen again.

At least, he’s never really thought about being better just for the sake of it. No, it was usually accompanied with being _better at fighting_ , _a better leader_ or any other thing that had gone through his head in almost a decade of losing his parents and having taken on the responsibility of leading a bunch of orphans (he doesn’t even know if it really has been a decade, he’d lost count of the days a long time ago. But he looks different so surely… It must be something like ten years).

“Just… Keep an open mind, Jet,” Smellerbee’s voice calls him back to reality. He frowns, not following. “Even if they are firebenders… It doesn’t mean they’re evil. It’s not just the firebenders who make bad choices.”

It’s a comment about him again. But about them too. Jet knows that as much as he is their leader, that none of the Freedom Fighters – the ones who knew the plan, anyway – tried to shirk responsibility. True, he didn’t put the idea up for debate, but no one really tried to fight him either.

Smellerbee and Longshot feel guilty for what they did to the village – which could have been so much worse if the Avatar and his friends hadn’t been there – and that’s… That’s on Jet.

“We’re going to keep an eye on them,” Jet says because he’ll be dead the day he simply trusts a firebender. But… “I’ll keep an open mind. I promise.”

Smellerbee smiles, another big one, finally looking truly relaxed, which in turn makes Jet feel better.

What if he’d gone inside the tea shop and had made a mess of it? Left Smellerbee and Longshot? It feels like there’s a rock sitting in the bottom of Jet’s stomach. He forces himself to relax.

No, he’s not going to simply forget about Li and Mushi. But he is going to play this smart.

.

Jet only comes back to the tea shop right before it closes the next day. He’s spent the time in between trying to find a job, finally getting one running errands for merchants, which suits him just fine. Jet isn’t made to be trapped somewhere.

He doesn’t go in, just climbs the roof in front of the place so that he can spy on Li and Mushi. He sees more of Li, since Mushi is usually making tea in the back, and it’s about as boring as the previous day. But before, Jet had been sure it was just a matter of time before one of them broke. After all, bending came as naturally as breathing, right? And people didn’t breathe consciously. So… They had to break, they simply had to.

But now… Now Jet thought of Smellerbee’s words. And not just about their home, and the Fire Nation, and second chances, but what she’s said about Ba Sing Se too.

Since Jet really hadn’t been around too many people in the previous days, he hadn’t noticed it but after a day walking around and speaking with as many people as he could… Yeah, something isn’t right in Ba Sing Se.

Jet just doesn’t know what he can do about it. But what he is pretty sure is that Smellerbee is right and that if he calls attention to these two firebenders, even if they do end up arrested, chances are Jet will be going with them.

But simply walking away isn’t an option either. Especially not when… Not when Jet trusted Li. Because that, really, is the crux of the matter, as much as he wants to pretend otherwise.

Jet saw this branded kid on a refugee ferry and saw a kindred soul. And for that kindred soul to now be part of the enemy… Jet feels betrayed, even though there is no actual good reason for him to feel that way and he knows it.

How long did he spend with Li in total? A couple hours, if that. There is absolutely no reason for him to feel anything towards Li, besides a healthy suspicion that he’s a firebender after seeing his uncle heat up his tea without making any actual fire. And yet…

Nothing happens that night.

Jet goes home, does the same thing the next day. The one after that and it’s Smellerbee and Longshot who each take a turn spending some hours spying on Li and Mushi.

Then Jet goes back, then it’s Smellerbee and Longshot again, then Jet.

It’s starting to tire him out, honestly. Jet spends the whole day running around and then several hours lying on a rooftop, but having to make sure he’s awake. And afterwards, he gets just enough hours of sleep to make sure he functions the next day.

And although Smellerbee and Longshot are spending less hours than him outside the tea shop, Jet knows it’s taking a toll on them too.

He yawns. Something’s got to give, but he doesn’t know what.

(Refuses to think what, because giving up, accepting that there’s two firebenders living in Ba Sing Se, hiding in their midst… No, Jet refuses to accept that. He might be doing this with an open mind, as he promised Smellerbee and Longshot, but that doesn’t mean he’s not taking it seriously. Jet remembers what fire can do and he’s not letting two people who can control it out of his sight.)

“Hey,” a voice says and Jet jumps. He turns to his right, immediately going for his swords, unsheathing them once he sees who’s there.

“Li,” he says, squinting and holding tight to his swords.

Li does a little wave. “I brought you tea,” he says, offers a cup. He looks… bored. Which is a surprising look for someone who just offered Jet a hot drink. Which he’s not taking, obviously.

“It’s magnolia bark,” Li says, like that… explains anything.

Jet just blinks, still with his swords extended.

“It’s supposed to help you sleep. Decreases the time it takes to fall asleep and increases how long you sleep. At least that’s what my uncle said,” Li says and he has this weird guileless look on his face.

Jet clenches his jaw; of course the old man wants him to fall asleep.

“I told my uncle to give you something strong, if you were going to keep coming to spy on us, but he said that would just take away even more hours from your sleep. He thinks you’re already not sleeping enough,” Li says and now he looks… Jet doesn’t even know. Confused? Though just what’s confusing to him Jet hasn’t got a clue.

_Wait,_ he thinks, _he said something about coming back to spy on them._

“You know I’ve been here?”

Li stares for a couple seconds. “Uh, yeah,” he finally answers, almost like… Like he’s judging Jet for thinking otherwise.

Jet squints his eyes, realizes he’s still holding his swords, but like hell is he putting them away, especially now that he knows Li and Mushi have been aware of the eyes on them the whole time.

“You didn’t say or do anything.”

Li shrugs, “my uncle didn’t think there was anything we could say to make you leave.”

“But tea will?” Jet asks, still squinting.

Li twitches his nose, which Jet can’t quite look away from, doesn’t even know why.

“I don’t think so. Tea is just hot leaf juice; I don’t know why it’d make you go away.”

Jet blinks. If this was any other situation – if they were any other two people, or maybe just these two exact same people, but before, before the tea incident – he’d probably laugh at the way Li is acting. But instead he keeps squinting, makes sure his grip on his swords is solid.

“I know you’re a firebender,” he finally says because Jet has no patience for games. And, if he’s honest, he really is running on low sleep and just wants to get this over with.

Li blinks. “No, we’re not.”

“I saw your uncle warming his tea. With just his hands. Is he even your uncle?” Jet demands, has genuinely been wondering.

“Yes, obviously!” Li frowns, “did you think I was just travelling around with a random old man?” Then he blushes, like he realizes what that sounds like. Another gesture that Jet is strangely captivated but, but no, he mentally shakes his head.

Maybe he thought Li was attractive back when he was just another random refugee in a ferry full of them, but he’s certainly not now.

“I know you’re firebenders!” Jet repeats himself.

“Yeah? Then why haven’t you told anyone?” Li asks and he doesn’t look worried or anything. It just makes Jet’s blood boil hotter. How dare he not see Jet as a threat to his perfect lie?

He squints, doesn’t want to just say the truth, but then… He remembers Smellerbee’s voice. There’s no way he trusts Li and Mushi, but… Maybe they really aren’t the worst thing ever. They haven’t hurt anyone as far as he knows.

Even if they are firebenders… without them hurting someone, no one in Ba Sing Se seems willing to care.

“There’s something wrong in this city,” Jet finally utters. “They don’t seem to care about the Fire Nation. But I do,” he resolutely says.

Li blinks at him for a couple seconds. Then he sighs and sits in the lotus position.

“I’m sorry you were hurt by the Fire Nation. They’ve hurt a lot of people.”

Jet is still holding onto his swords. Jet still wants to hurt Li – wants to hurt a lot of people, really. He still wants to fight, wants to do his part in the war, no matter how small.

Instead, he finally sheathes his swords, sitting down, though in an easier position to get back up than the lotus. He keeps his distance from Li, though, hands loose on his knees, ready to get his swords back out if necessary.

Li doesn’t say anything else and Jet doesn’t speak either, instead studying the boy in front of him.

He’s probably younger than Jet, though not by a lot. His hair is growing messily, like he got it randomly cut. But, of course, his most prominent characteristic is his scar. His _burnt_ scar.

As a refugee, it was obvious the conclusion Jet jumped to when he first saw it – Li was hurt by firebenders. But if he’s really a firebender… A training accident, maybe. But the scar looks – and Jet feels a bit sick thinking it – too well placed. It doesn’t look random at all.

“How’d you get your scar?” Jet asks, doesn’t know why, certainly isn’t expecting a reply.

Li blinks, then immediately tenses up, seems to close himself off.

“Why do you want to know?”

“If you’re not a firebender, then someone wanted to hurt you. If you’re a firebender…” Jet lets the sentence drift off. He thinks about Smellerbee’s words about the firebenders, how they weren’t the only ones to make bad choices. Who says they also don’t hurt one another?

“I don’t have to tell you,” Li says, combative, but Jet doesn’t think it’s personal.

It’s impossible for people to not notice the scar unless they’re blind, but how often is he actually asked about it?

_It’s probably a bad memory,_ Jet thinks. Then he gets the urge to touch it, to feel it under his fingers. That just makes him fist his hand, of course. He’s clearly in need of sleep.

“Why would a firebender hurt another firebender?” Jet asks and Li pulls his knees to his chest, holding onto them.

Suddenly, Jet feels guilty. This is a real person in front of him, whom he’s asking deep personal questions.

He feels tired. And confused too. What is he doing here? Not just in this roof, but in Ba Sing Se in general.

He wants to go home, to his forest, to his tree house.

_But you’ve lost it all. And not just because the Fire Nation took it. Smellerbee is right._ You _lost it._

“I don’t know,” Li says and Jet has to focus to figure out what he’s talking about.

_“Why would a firebender hurt another firebender?”_ Right, that.

Jet sighs and extends an arm, grabbing the tea cup from Li’s hand, which has gone cold.

“It’s cold.”

“So?” Li asks and Jet raises an eyebrow.

“You’re a firebender. You can warm it up.”

Li huffs but Jet can see a smile trying to break through. He keeps a hold of the cup, thinks about taking a sip from it, but can’t actually turn off the little voice in his head saying it’s poisoned. So he just keeps a hold of it.

“I’m not a firebender,” Li says and Jet hums.

“Sure, Li, whatever you say.”

Li huffs again. “You’re not going to stop spying on us, are you?”

And suddenly, Jet doesn’t feel so amused anymore.

“I’m not letting you hurt anyone,” Jet says and Li frowns.

“We’re not going to.”

“That’s what the Fire Nation does,” Jet growls and Li blinks.

“You really think everyone in the Fire Nation is evil?”

It’s not a confession, exactly.

_Of course_ , Jet opens his mouth to say. _They have to be_ , he thinks and closes it.

Because if the Fire Nation isn’t all bad… Then Jet was wrong in wanting to kill everyone in the village.

Jet clenches his jaw. Then he gets up.

“I’m coming back tomorrow,” he says and doesn’t wait for a response before climbing back down, leaving the still full tea cup behind.

Then he goes to the tiny apartment he’s sharing with Smellerbee and Longshot.

.

The next day, Jet doesn’t go up on the roof to spy on Li and his uncle. No, instead, he goes inside. Since they know he’s been watching them, there doesn’t really seem to be a point in trying to pretend otherwise. Besides, he gets to see them even better now – and the fact that he gets to sit in a warm place definitely beats lying on a cold roof, no matter how much Jet is used to everything but best weather conditions.

Li blinks when he sees him, surprised, but doesn’t say anything besides pointing him to a table, not too far from the counter, while he finishes up with a couple of customers.

Jet can see how done he looks, how tight up he holds himself and thinks once again _this is no poor kid._

Before he can continue his wonderings, Li finally comes by his table.

“What do you want?” He asks, frowning.

Jet leans back on the chair, one arm relaxed on the table, the other draped over the back of the chair next to him. He raises an eyebrow, “is that any way to talk to a customer?”

“You’re stalking us,” Li says in an accusatory tone.

“And I’m not stopping,” Jet says, squinting.

Li looks at him for a couple seconds in silence, before huffing and saying, “fine, do whatever you want. What are you drinking? You can’t stay without buying something.”

“Green tea,” Jet immediately requests, having vague childhood memories of it.

Li doesn’t bother saying or doing anything before turning and going to the counter, then to the back, where either he or his uncle make the tea. By the speed with which he comes back to the main room, it’s probably his uncle.

Li goes to another client, then gets the tea for the people he’d been with when Jet first went in, then goes back to the kitchen and comes back with Jet’s tea.

He simply drops the cup on top of Jet’s table, not bothering saying or doing anything else. Jet grabs the cup with both hands, but the heat coming off it is a good warning not to drink it right away, so he just blows on it.

Jet almost closes his eyes, wants to savor the warmth in his hands, the smell of the leaves, but he hasn’t actually forgotten why or what he’s doing here. Part of him doesn’t even want to drink the tea but Li and Mushi aren’t stupid enough to murder him in plain sight, are they? Then again, if anyone would know a tea that would make a death look natural…

Jet looks down into the cup, thinking, before finally putting it back down, still with his hands around, but deciding, for once, that it’s better to be safe than sorry.

He doesn’t know how much time passes like that. Li going back and forth between the main room and the kitchen, either with clients when he’s around, or cleaning the counter or something else.

Jet can see him getting more and more worked up as Jet just keeps staring at him but he doesn’t say anything. If it was Jet, he’d have exploded by now.

_Firebenders have all those breathing techniques to relax, don’t they?_ He thinks and that makes him pay even more attention to Li, trying to see if he breathes differently from anyone else around.

He does seem to sometime take deeper breaths than usual but with the way he’s all wound up, that’s not exactly unexpected.

Jet’s tea has gone cold, so he lets it go, but doesn’t push the cup away; even cold, it still smells nicely. It brings back memories, though Jet refuses to ponder on them in this place. Maybe he should buy some green tea; not to make it, simply to breathe it in.

“It wasn’t poisoned,” Li’s voice brings Jet out of his musing, though he doesn’t jump in surprise. Too many years around kids who decided a fun game was to see who was quieter in the middle of the woods have taught him better.

“Uh?” Jet asks, even though he knows what Li is talking about.

Li crosses his arms, huffs again and Jet squints, but no, no hot air came out of his mouth, just regular temperature.

“The tea,” he says, words measured, “wasn’t poisoned. My uncle would never ruin tea like that.”

Jet doesn’t say anything right away, suddenly thinks back on what he saw once they arrived in Ba Sing Se, an old man with a suddenly warm cup of tea in his hands in the middle of the Earth Kingdom. A man like that probably does love his tea very much.

_A man like that probably isn’t that dangerous either_ , a voice – not totally unlike Smellerbee’s – says in Jet’s mind, but he doesn’t pay it any attention.

“I wasn’t thirsty,” Jet finally says, doesn’t know why he doesn’t just go for _and I’m just supposed to trust you?_

Li squints, then deflates, uncrossing his arms, “you’re still paying.”

Jet takes out a coin from his pocket, and puts it down on the table. Li looks down at it for a couple of seconds before finally picking it up.

Still, he doesn’t tell Jet to leave, so Jet doesn’t. There’s still several hours before the tea shop closes and if Li isn’t going to force him to get a second cup of tea – which he’s not touching, he doesn’t care what Li or his uncle have to say – then Jet might as well stay.

They don’t talk after that. Jet catches Li looking at him once in a while, usually looking away quickly, but once in a while keeping his attention on Jet who, of course, starts glaring at him.

Jet isn’t used to the quietness and, if he’s honest, it’s messing with him a bit.

In the forest, there was pretty much always something to do. The kids had to be fed, clothed, kept healthy… And there was still the fighting to do.

Jet knows it wasn’t a perfect existence, that everyone survived probably more out of luck than because the conditions were optimal, but he still misses it. And not simply the living in the woods, the freedom around them, the being a leader… But the people.

One bad choice and suddenly… It all crumbled down.

_It’s not just the firebenders who make bad choices._ Smellerbee’s words keep running through his head and Jet almost wishes he hadn’t listened to her and to Longshot because then at least he would have done something. For better or worse, he would have confronted the firebenders.

Instead, he’s… sitting down near them, acting like he’s just another customer. Suddenly, Jet gets up, doesn’t bother saying anything, just gets out.

He doesn’t run once he’s outside but only because the streets are so tightly wrapped upon one another that he’ll absolutely hit a corner, not yet having familiarized himself with the streets of Ba Sing Se.

_And I don’t want to_ , Jet thinks, knows he sounds childish, but it’s not like there’s anyone around to listen and judge.

Jet stays outside for a few seconds, which then turns into a minute or two. Should he stay and keep watch over Li and Mushi? He told Smellerbee and Longshot he’d do it and if he just goes back to their place now, they’ll either think something’s wrong, or that he’s given up his _vendetta_.

“Are you okay?” A voice, which Jet recognizes immediately, says from behind and Jet almost doesn’t turn around.

But, with a sigh, he finally does. And, just as expected, there’s Li, standing there. He’s moving his weight from foot to foot, but it doesn’t look neither nervous nor like he’s readying himself for a fight. It just seems like something he’s doing just for the sake of it.

There are so many answers that Jet could give to that, that he just keeps quiet, unable to pick and choose one.

“You brought your swords,” Li says and Jet frowns, then forces his expression to relax.

“So what?”

“Do you want to… practice?” Li asks, looking like he’s bitten on something bitter. Jet blinks a couple times.

“You know sword fighting?”

“Yeah,” Li answers, glaring slightly, like he’s insulted Jet thought otherwise. Right, being accused of being a firebender doesn’t get him a raised eyebrow, but the idea that Jet might doubt his sword skills…

Jet wants to say no. He doesn’t want to spend time with Li, like he doesn’t know the truth. Even if Li himself isn’t a firebender, his uncle certainly is. They’re Fire Nation. They’re the _enemy_.

But he’s also still feeling tired. And maybe, just maybe, he has actually been spending more time thinking of Smellerbee’s words than he’s willing to acknowledge.

“Where?” He finally forces out.

“There’s an empty warehouse nearby,” Li says and it takes Jet a few seconds to realize what the look in his face is: excitement. Just like he’d looked back in the ferry, when they’d been stealing the food.

And, just like then, the sight can’t help but to make something clench in Jet’s stomach. Back then, he hadn’t fought the feeling; they were both young, apparently uncompromised… Why not see where things could do? But Jet knows the truth now. So he resolutely stamps on the feeling, tells himself that it is a firebender in front of him.

But he still says, “ok, lead the way.”

“I need to change. And get my swords. And tell my uncle,” Li tells him, all in broken up sentences. Jet just shrugs.

“I’ll wait.”

Li looks at him for a couple seconds, like he’s assessing how truthful Jet is being, before he turns around without a word and goes back inside.

Jet already knows Li and his uncle are living in an apartment close by, so he doesn’t bother following him, just goes to lean against the house opposite the tea shop, chewing on the wheat in his mouth.

It doesn’t take more than fifteen minutes before Li is back, wearing loose dark clothes, no apron in sight, and two swords sheathed to his back. Jet hasn’t come across that many people fighting with two swords.

Suddenly, he’s excited about this. Longshot and Smellerbee both know how to fight, but they only go for swords when they don’t have another choice.

Jet follows Li in silence. They walk for the first couple of minutes, then Li climbs a roof and Jet follows him, sees the way Li keeps looking around, does it too, but doesn’t actually know what Li is watching out for.

He knows there must be some type of army or something protecting the city, but he hasn’t seen anyone around. But then again, if they’re not fighting a war outside… They must be doing something inside.

Jet shakes his head, pulling away from the thought. This isn’t the time.

Finally, Li drops down in a neighborhood Jet hasn’t been to before, which is unsurprising, considering it’s mostly warehouses. He wonders if they’re all empty, or if Li visited most of them before he found a good one. He doesn’t ask, though, just sees Li opening the door, lock having already been broken, though he’s clearly been putting it back, pretending otherwise.

The inside is exactly what Li promised: an empty warehouse.

Jet looks around for a few seconds, several thoughts running through his head, mostly about how this is a good space for fighting, for hiding, for building… something.

_Freedom Fighters_ , he can’t help but to think then quickly glances at Li, remembering the last time he’d asked someone to join him.

Li has unsheathed his swords and is slowly running through some warming up drills. Jet is… mesmerized by the sight. Li’s swords aren’t hooked like his and, while Jet’s knows his swords don’t look like much, Li’s are quite the opposite. These are weapons, fighting tools. _War_ tools.

And Li is a clearly very skilled fighter.

Jet feels a bit jealous watching the way Li moves with the swords, like they’re extensions of his arms, can clearly see that this didn’t just come from practice but that, unlike Jet, he had a master. But, mostly, he feels that clench in his stomach again. Again, he stomps down on it.

He turns his back to Jet, gets his own swords out, takes a couple deep breaths and then starts his own warming up exercises.

Jet resolutely doesn’t think of Li watching him – he’s too busy with his own warm up –, judging or… admiring.

He loses himself in the moves, though they aren’t as practiced as Li’s. Considering Jet came up with most of them, he also keeps changing them.

Finally, once he’s started sweating, he forces himself to stop. There’s no point in tiring himself out before doing any actual figh- _practicing_ , he reminds himself.

Li is still warming up, but the moves aren’t slow anymore. He’s fast and he moves his body in a way Jet hasn’t seen before, dropping low several times and getting back up just as quickly.

Jet is, once again, mesmerized. But this time he turns those feelings into anger. He doesn’t give Li a warning, instead jumps into the fray.

Li turns to meet his swords, doesn’t look caught unaware at all. It just makes Jet angrier.

Jet fights like he’s always fought: like it’s a death or life situation. There’s a part of his brain telling him to calm down, to think of this just like a practicing exercise with one of the kids. A smaller voice is telling him that he’s going to lose, that he’s not as good as Li.

Mostly, Jet is just thinking that there’s a Fire Nation boy in front of him and he has to kill him.

Jet loses the sword on his right hand fast, doesn’t hesitate to move the sword on his left hand to the right, the hand he’s better with, but he’s off balance; this hasn’t actually happened that often.

_Stupid_ , he thinks. Should have practiced this exact situation more.

Li does a mixture between direct attacks and twirling movements, until he finally has a sword against Jet’s neck, the other keeping Jet’s sword at bay.

“I don’t want to hurt you,” he says and Jet snarls.

He feels trapped. And embarrassed too. Why did he say yes to this? Now the firebenders are going to think they’re better than him, that Jet isn’t a threat.

Jet doesn’t say anything in response because he doesn’t know what to say. There’s this wild part of him that wants to pull closer, feel the steel almost break his skin and say _“do it”_.

So they stand like that until Li finally pulls back, taking several steps back quickly. He doesn’t move as Jet goes to get his other sword back.

He moves back so that they’re once again standing facing each other. Jet is breathing hard, his mind’s a mess and he doesn’t know what he wants Li to do.

“I don’t want to hurt you,” Li repeats himself, but this time keeps going, “you’re too angry.”

“I’m always angry,” Jet says before he can think twice about it. He doesn’t show surprise in his face, even though he hadn’t been thinking of saying that. It’s not something he’s ever actually said out loud, even if it’s something that’s been playing around his mind for years.

Li blinks. Then he sighs, “I know what you mean.”

“You don’t look angry,” Jet counters and it sounds accusative.

Li gives this bark of laughter, but he doesn’t sound amused. He sounds… tired, maybe a bit defeated.

“My uncle doesn’t want me to be angry,” Li says, like it explains anything.

But Jet, who’s been taking care of people since he was eight simply because _someone had to_ knows exactly what he means.

He remembers, suddenly, that he saw Li’s uncle firebend. That he’s been watching the two of them for days, just waiting for one or the other to break. But the thought doesn’t make the anger rear back.

It makes him… Honestly, it makes Jet start laughing. He knows he must make quite the picture; here Li is, talking about anger and his uncle, and here Jet is: laughing. But it’s not at him, it’s just at the ridiculousness of the situation.

Jet left the forest for Ba Sing Se to find a better way to fight the Fire Nation, except Ba Sing Se isn’t fighting the Fire Nation, and instead what he found is two firebenders who don’t seem interesting in fighting – or, at least, in hurting anyone.

If that’s not a good joke, Jet doesn’t know what is.

Li doesn’t join him in laughing, but he doesn’t actually look at Jet like he’s crazy. He just… stands there and waits him out.

Jet’s laughter stops just as abruptly as it started.

“Why did you come to Ba Sing Se?” Jet suddenly asks.

Li opens his mouth, but no word comes out, so he closes it again. Is he trying to remember the lie he and his uncle came up with? Does he not want to lie to Jet?

_Don’t be stupid_ , Jet tells himself. _Why would he do that?_

Yet, he can’t help but to kind of… like the idea.

Even if Li is already lying about something pretty damn big.

“You said you came for a second chance,” Li says, which doesn’t answer Jet’s question at all, but he decides to let it go.

“Yes,” Jet replies, seeing no point in pretending otherwise.

Li opens his mouth, but once again closes it without saying anything else.

As a conversation, there’s a lot missing from it. Yet, maybe sometimes what’s unsaid is as important as what’s actually said.

“Let’s go again,” Jet says, raises his swords in a fighting stance.

Li studies him for a couple seconds before nodding, getting into his own stance as well.

This time, Jet doesn’t let anger overcome him.

He still loses, Li clearly in a league of his own, but this time the fight lasts longer, Jet can actually hear Li’s labored breath.

He finds himself once again with a sword against his neck. But there’s no urge to push forward.

Li is smiling and that… Well, that makes Jet want to do something dumb like push Li’s sword away and kiss him, the way he thought about for so many hours in that ferry.

But he doesn’t. And not because Li’s a firebender – he’s slowly coming to terms with it, slowly accepting that maybe Fire Nation doesn’t always equal evil, that the world isn’t actually that simple and that yes, Jet did make a very bad choice and that he has to make up for it – but because… suddenly, he wants to move slowly with this.

Suddenly, Jet realizes that both him and Li seem to be planning to stay in Ba Sing Se for a while and that there’s no need to rush.

So Jet smiles, raises his swords again and they continue to practice.

.

Jet spends the next few afternoons in the tea shop – always getting a cup of green tea to warm his hands and for the comforting smell, but never drinking it – followed by sword practicing with Li.

He doesn’t really like to admit it, but he feels himself improving. The second afternoon, Li stopped to correct Jet’s stance which had, of course, led to Jet yelling and fighting with even more emotion than usual, which then led, also obviously, to his defeat.

The third day, he actually asked Li about one of his stances and then things… continued.

By the fourth day, Jet had told Smellerbee and Longshot to stop going to the tea shop to keep watch on Li and Mushi. Their relief had almost been palpable, which had left a bitter taste on Jet’s mouth, but he’d forced it down.

The three of them are actually building something good here. Not perfect and not what Jet had envisioned, but he’s trying to be, if not content, then at the very least not unhappy about it.

Jet has always been good at finding the good in the bad situations and it isn’t Ba Sing Se and its weirdness that’s going to change that.

By the fifth day Li is talking to him the second Jet’s sitting down.

“You’re not the only one spying on us,” he says and Jet frowns, unsure how to take that.

“The Dai Li?” He asks because he’s finally learnt who really rules this city.

“Maybe,” Li says. “She looks a bit young, but…”

“She?” Jet asks. It’s not like the Dai Li can’t have female agents, but he didn’t think it was their type. Maybe they just think a woman will go by unnoticed more easily.

“She’s behind you. Don’t make it obvious,” Li says and Jet, very casually, turns back, like he’s watching the door or something. The woman – girl – in question isn’t hard to find at all, and Jet immediately turns back to Li, very much unimpressed.

“Are you serious?” He asks, tone unbelievable because Li can’t actually be this… Jet doesn’t even know a word for it.

“I said she was young,” Li responds, frowning and defensive.

“Li…” Jet starts, patiently, “she’s not spying on you. She wants to take you out.”

“What?” Li says, sounding surprised and tense. “She’s an assassin?”

Jet stares at Li for a couple seconds, sure that he misheard him. But Li just keeps staring back, still tense, but also oddly… innocent?

Jet blinks a couple times. “She wants to take you out… on a date.”

“What?” Li asks, loud, turning the other customers’ attention to them. When he speaks again, it’s in a lower tone, “no, she doesn’t. That doesn’t make any sense.”

“Oh, because the Dai Li using a teenage girl as a spy makes more sense?” Jet asks, incredibly done with this whole conversation.

Li blinks, turns to the girl – quite obviously – then back to Jet. He frowns.

“But… why?”

“What do you mean why? You know why people go on dates, right?”

“Yes, my uncle has been… doing that,” Li says, looks like he’s bitten on a lemon, which makes Jet smile. He hasn’t talked to Mushi much, but the relationship between him and Li is certainly hilarious to witness.

“Then what’s so confusing?” Jet asks and Li opens his mouth to answer. Then he closes it, clearly changes his mind and just shakes his head.

“Never mind. I’ll go get your green tea,” he turns to walk away but Jet raises himself slightly on the chair to lean forward and grab his arm, though not with too much strength.

“Hey, tell me,” he says, sounds neither demanding nor mocking.

Li, Jet has found out, isn’t all that good with words. Well, he can choose a few specific ones that will leave a person not feeling all that great about themselves, but he’s not really good with conversations.

If he really doesn’t want to tell Jet what his problem is, Jet will leave it be. But half the time, you just need to push just a bit more for Li to say what he wants to. Because that’s the thing; it’s not that Li doesn’t want to talk, it’s just that most times it feels like he doesn’t know how to.

It makes Jet once again wonder about his life, but he pushes those thoughts away; this isn’t the time.

“Why would she want to date me?” Li asks and Jet lets him go. The worst part is that he doesn’t sound negative about it at all, just genuinely confused. It makes Jet want to hug him.

“Why wouldn’t she want to date you?” Jet asks, sounds softer than he usually does. Li sends him a look, noticing, though he doesn’t comment on it.

“The only conversation we’ve ever had has been me asking what tea she wants and her answering,” Li says and Jet holds the breath he hadn’t realized he’d been holding. He’d thought… well, he’d thought Li was going to just point at his scar.

“Well, a date is to get to know another person,” Jet says, back to his normal voice, and leaning back on his chair. He doesn’t know why he’s pushing this; it’s not like he wants Li to go on a date with some random girl – no matter how nice he’s sure she is.

Li keeps frowning and Jet wonders if he’s finally really thinking of what the girl showing interest in him means. If he’s pondering saying yes when she finally asks, or even doing it himself.

“I guess,” he finally settles on. “I’m going to get your tea,” he continues and then turns to go to the kitchen.

Jet has to fight the urge to turn back to the girl. He’s not entirely sure he’d be able to keep himself from glaring at her.

Li brings back his tea and the afternoon passes like it usually does; Jet with the cup in his hands and Li serving customers. Sometimes he stops by Jet’s table, but they don’t talk much.

It’s still comfortable, which Jet is… coming to terms with. Sometimes he still gets that insane urge to… do something. Yell at Li, yell at everyone around them that there’s a firebender in their midst. But for the most part he just… Well, Jet does what he’s always done: he gets on with things.

And if that means having to change some of his previous thought in stone ideals… He’s not going to stop fighting the Fire Nation, but maybe… Maybe Smellerbee is right and not all of them are evil. Just like what someone does against them isn’t necessarily good.

Jet takes a sip from his tea, which has gone lukewarm. It’s… stronger than he remembers. But not bad.

Li comes back from the kitchen, sees Jet drinking from his cup and freezes, just for a couple seconds. Then he smiles at Jet, something quick, there and gone just as fast, and Jet thinks: _yeah, not bad at all._

.

That night, Jet and Li go to the abandoned warehouse again. They practice for a while and Jet doesn’t even feel angry anymore at noticing how good Li is. Well, okay, he doesn’t exactly feel happy about it and he can’t help the jealousy that sometimes comes up, but he’s at least capable of pushing it back down without losing his self-control.

Not that that has gotten him a win yet, but it didn’t take three days before Jet realized one thing: like him, Li doesn’t fight like it’s a game. He fights like it’s a life or death situation. It just raises more and more questions in Jet’s mind, but he keeps quiet, has learnt that what Li doesn’t want to say, he truly won’t.

After they’ve finished, all swords sheathed, Jet can’t help but to ask, “so, what are you going to say when she asks you out?”

Li blinks at him, “maybe she won’t.”

Jet raises an eyebrow, “she didn’t look like the shy type to me.”

Li blinks again, then frowns, though it’s not a deep one, more like his face caught halfway between the expression.

“If she does ask… I’m going to say no.”

“Not interested?” Jet asks, heart beating faster, palms sweating a little bit and what does it say that this conversation has him more nervous than when he was planning on killing a whole village?

Li doesn’t answer right away, his eyes moving from Jet to around, like he can’t decide whether to look in him in the eyes or not. It’s Jet’s turn to frown; he hadn’t really expected his question to lead to such a strange reaction.

“It wouldn’t… It wouldn’t be right.”

Jet blinks, “it wouldn’t be right… to go out with her?”

Li opens his mouth, then closes it. He’s finally looking at Jet, studying him intently, to which Jet just stands there, can almost see the wheels turning inside Li’s mind.

“She doesn’t know who I really am.”

Jet’s breath gets caught. He has to force it out slowly. Then he blinks. Opens his mouth, goes to say _I don’t either_ , closes it before the words go out. Does it really matter?

Jet knows Li is keeping secrets, but he can’t imagine any of them would change how he feels. He already knows Li is a firebender – or, at least, related to one – and whatever else he’s hiding, why he and his uncle came to Ba Sing Se… Li isn’t that great an actor. He can’t be hiding that he’s… a mass murderer or something.

_Not like you almost were_ , Jet thinks and really, who is he to be judging others?

“I want to kiss you,” Jet says and Li stares at him for a few seconds. Then he blushes, though when he speaks, his voice comes out steady and as strong as always.

“You don’t know who I really am either.”

“You don’t know everything I am either,” Jet replies and Li blinks.

“If you knew who I really am, you probably wouldn’t want to kiss me.”

“If you knew everything I’ve done, you probably wouldn’t want me to kiss you,” Jet tells him. Suddenly, he’s pretty sure that whatever Li tells him won’t be as bad as what Jet can tell him about himself.

Li doesn’t say anything back and they just stand there, staring at each other. Suddenly, Jet decides that whether Li tells him who he really is or not, that it’s his choice, just like it’s Jet’s choice to tell him about himself, and that he does want that.

“The Freedom Fighters didn’t use to be just me, Smellerbee and Longshot. There used to be dozens of us; all kids, all orphans. But now there’s only three left because I… I made a wrong choice. I was going to kill a whole village because some Fire Nation soldiers were there.”

“But you didn’t?” Li asks and he sounds neither hateful nor hopeful. He’s just looking at Jet, no judgement.

“Because I was stopped, not because I chose not to. Afterward… Well, the kids started leaving. I was afraid that Smellerbee and Longshot were going to go too so I decided a new environment would be good for us.”

Li doesn’t say anything right away. When he finally speaks, it’s his own confession. “My real name is Zuko and I’m the Fire Nation Prince. I was banished three years ago and my fa- The Fire Lord told me I could only go back if I captured the Avatar,” he pauses. “I’ve hurt people trying to get him.”

Jet… well, part of him can’t quite believe it. Li – _Zuko_ – is a prince? The Fire Nation prince?

“Are you a firebender?” Jet asks which, given the circumstances, might not be all that important, yet it’s still something he wants to know.

“Yes,” Li – _Zuko_ , he reminds himself, wants to get this right – answers, quick and to the point.

Suddenly, Jet remembers that Li – Zuko – came to Ba Sing Se with his uncle. And if he’s a prince, then his uncle is the Fire Lord’s brother. Which means… Well, no wonder he said he’d once said he’d been to the city.

“Why are you really here?” Jet asks and he feels a bit disconnected from his body. He knows he should be angrier, distrustful, but Li, or Zuko, the boy in front of him is still the same one. The one that got him a cup of tea when Jet had been spying on him and his uncle for days, the one that talks to him as he works and that practices sword fighting with him, helping him.

“We’re being hunted by my sister,” Li – _Zuko_ , damn it – says and Jet starts laughing. It doesn’t last long, though. It’s not like he doesn’t believe Zuko; with everything he’s seen, it really isn’t that crazy. But it’s just… Zuko just says it, same way he’s said everything else around Jet, really, with no mask.

The laughter turns to tears and then Jet is crouching down, hands against his eyes, trying to keep the tears at bay. He doesn’t cry loudly; got used to doing pretty much everything silently, what with sharing his space with kids.

He feels a hand on his shoulder but doesn’t move.

“I’m sorry,” he says and it’s not supposed to be personal, it’s not supposed to be about Zuko and how Jet mistrusted him and his uncle – because, in the end, he was _right_ , except not. Because he’s not crying for that, he’s crying because he almost killed a whole village of people, like that would have made anything better.

A few dozen soldiers – if that – would be dead, but so would hundreds of innocent people. Jet had just been so blinded by revenge, by wanting to do something to end this war, that he hadn’t cared.

And he’d lost pretty much everything for it.

“It’s okay,” Li – Zuko – says and Jet laughs again, brokenly.

“No, it’s not.”

“But it’s going to be,” Zuko says and his voice doesn’t waver in the least. Jet moves his hands away from his eyes, lowers them to around his chest, raises his head to look at Zuko, who’s also crouched in front of him.

“How do you know?”

“Because it has to be,” he says, no room for arguments and suddenly, Jet remembers that first conversation they had, in the roof.

_“Why would a firebender hurt another firebender?”_

_“I don’t know.”_

Zuko is a prince, a banished prince. Who exactly would get away with hurting a prince like that?

Jet also remembers Zuko asking him _“you really think everyone in the Fire Nation is evil?”_ He hadn’t sounded angry or defensive.

Jet gets up, slowly. He feels tired to his bones, even though physically it hasn’t been a more demanding day than any other. He still feels tired, though.

_It’s your soul_ , he thinks and the words don’t sound like his, but Jet has no idea who they could belong to. His mother, once upon a time?

He feels the urge to tell Zuko about her, and his father. But not as another proof that the Fire Nation is evil, just because he wants to share more of himself.

He bends slightly down to put both hands on Zuko’s arms and pulls him up. Zuko comes without fight.

“Can I kiss you?” Jet asks and Zuko looks at him for a few seconds, eyes moving around his face, from his eyes to his mouth, free because even Jet can’t not lose his wheat when fighting. He finally nods.

Jet closes his eyes, then moves closer, touching his lips softly to Zuko’s.

He’s pretty sure that if they had kissed in the ferry, it wouldn’t have been like this at all. Because they’d been almost strangers, because they’d both been hiding, because they’d both been running…

He’s glad they didn’t kiss. He’s glad they got to do this now.

He’s glad for Smellerbee and Longshot, that they managed to stop him from going inside the tea shop that day. And that they stayed by him as Freedom Fighters.

He’s glad Zuko trusted him and that he trusted Zuko.

He’s just… glad.

Jet sighs against Zuko’s mouth, can’t help it. Zuko makes a little sound at it, then open his mouth too and Jet takes the chance.

It’s clear neither of them really knows what they’re doing, but it’s still good.

They kiss for a few more seconds before Jet leans back, hands still on Zuko’s arms, whose hands are still simply by his side.

They blink at each other. Then Zuko smiles, softly, which pulls the skin around his scar.

“Thank you,” he says and Jet doesn’t ask for what, pretty sure he knows exactly what he’s thinking – _for still wanting to kiss me, for being here, for trusting me_ – because it’s exactly what he’s feeling. So he says it back.

“Thank you,” and Zuko nods, like he too knows what Jet is saying.

Jet doesn’t kiss him again, instead he hugs him. It takes a few seconds but Zuko returns it, touch light at first, unsure, then his grip tightens and he lowers his face so that his chin is right on top of one of Jet’s shoulder.

They don’t say anything else.

It’s okay; for the first time, an unsure future doesn’t seem suffocating at all. Quite the opposite, actually. Suddenly, it’s filled with possibilities. And oh, how Jet can’t wait to live them.


End file.
